title: Economic investment by ant colonies in searches for better homes.
abstract: Organisms should invest more in gathering information when the pay-off from finding a profitable resource is likely to be greater. Here, we ask whether animal societies put more effort in scouting for a new nest when their current one is of low quality. We measured the scouting behaviour of Temnothorax albipennis ant colonies when they inhabit nest-sites with different combinations of desirable attributes. We show that the average probability of an ant scouting decreases significantly with an increase in the quality of the nest in which the colony currently resides. This means that the greater the potential gain from finding a new nest, the more effort a colony puts into gathering information regarding new nest-sites. Our results show, for the first time to our knowledge, the ability of animal societies to respond collectively to the quality of a resource they currently have at their disposal (e.g. current nest-site) and regulate appropriately their information gathering efforts for finding an alternative (e.g. a potentially better nest-site).
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, , Woodland Road, Bristol BS81UG, UK.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schlegel
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Sendova-Franks
authors.forename: Nigel R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Franks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004739:England; D016014:Linear Models; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Temnothorax albipennis; decision-making; information gathering; quality